1908 So-Called Dollar HK-798, Thomas Elder, Dollar

Coin Details

Description

Cataloged as HK-798, this so-called dollar was produced by Thomas Lindsay Elder (1874-1948), who designed or delineated 104 tokens and medals during his career, making him America's most prolific private medal issuer of the period. Thomas K. DeLorey's comprehensive 1980 article 'Thomas L. Elder, A Catalogue of his Tokens and Medals,' published in The Numismatist, established the definitive numbering system (DeLorey-1 through DeLorey-104+) and won both the Heath Literary Award and the Wayte and Olga Raymond Memorial Literary Award in 1981. Elder published through the Elder Monthly (1906-1907), The Elder Magazine (1910-1911), and the Elder Rare Coin Book (1934). He died on May 11, 1948, at Travelers Rest, South Carolina. Elder designed or delineated most of the 104 tokens and medals he issued during his lifetime, making him America's most prolific private medal issuer of the period. His numismatic so-called dollar series (HK-798 through HK-819, HK-1022 through HK-1028) includes commemorative pieces, political commentary medals like the 1912 'Gold Basis' Dollar (HK-810, HK-813), and collector novelties. Elder's productions served as both promotional pieces for his business and as collectible medallic art. The HK numbering system groups so-called dollars broadly by type: exposition and commemorative pieces in the lower numbers, with monetary, miscellaneous, and later additions in higher ranges. Lettered suffixes (a, b, c, d) typically indicate variant compositions or die states of the same basic design, while entries above HK-900 include pieces added in later catalog supplements.

Rarity Notes

Thomas Elder numismatic so-called dollars from the HK-798 to HK-819 range survive in varying quantities. Various compositions exist, with silver being the rarest and base metals more commonly encountered. The lettered variants (a, b, c suffixes) are generally scarcer than the primary types. Elder's pieces are actively collected both as so-called dollars and as examples of early 20th-century American numismatic entrepreneurship.

Cross References

HK-798; PCGS #643516